Tag Archives: rhinebeck

Wilderstein was home to three generations of the Suckley Family. The last family member to live at Wilderstein was Margaret (Daisy) Suckley whose extraordinarily close friendship with former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been well-chronicled and is the subject of much interest — Wilderstein Historic Society

I have always been partial to eggs, some years I can eat them and other years not. At the moment I can eat eggs, but only if I get them close-by our weekend house from Sepascot Home Farm upstate NY in Rhinebeck. The eggs from the Farm are true-to-life produced by the happiest chickens, who are not caged and are free to roam the property during the day eating naturally. They are very happy little chickens! Personally, I can only eat eggs if they are baked or hard-boiled. Weird I know. I cannot do fried eggs and the smell of a cooking omelette can near make me sick.

The most popular posts that I put up on the Willy B Mum Facebook Page are the pictures of Miles Storm’s lunches that I make for him. So today, I am dedicating my writing to highlighting a group of those plate creations.

I do often get compliments on how healthy the lunches are that I put together for my Son. Some people are even in disbelief as to how I came up with such combinations. To me, it is quite normal and all that I know to do for him. However, I guess to others trying or starting out with a vegetarian/vegan diet, it can be confusing and frustrating to navigate through, especially if having eaten meat most of one’s life. And, I understand that, as once upon a time I ate meat and I did not have a Son.

Eating vegan, meaning you do not eat any animal flesh or by products, does not have to mean “eating rabbit food” with a piece of carrot for breakfast and a piece of celery for lunch. On the contrary, eating a plant-based diet can be an eye-opening array of tastes and textures which can help to prolong life by reducing your chance of developing such ailments as diabetes, heart disease and cancer – TRUE Story!

With Summer fast approaching here in the Northern Hemisphere, that can only mean one thing – it’s time for children to eat a busload of ice-cream! However, concerns come to hand in my family with this realization as my Son cannot consume cow milk products. This is because he breaks out in an eczema like skin rash. The rash does not appear when he has goat milk products so this is what we give him instead.

My family lives in between 2 places; during the week we live in bustling New York City in an apartment and during the weekends (and all holidays) we live upstate NY in the gorgeous historic township of Rhinebeck in a house. Rhinebeck is located a stones throw away from the Hudson River about a 2 hour drive North of NYC. My family has done this commute for 7 years now, and we love the contrast of being surrounded by trees and animals one minute and then surrounded by skyscraper buildings with barely a tree in site, the next!

During the cold winter months upstate NY, where I spend weekends with my family, when the land is covered in snow it can be extremely difficult for ground birds to find food. If the snow lasts a long time, birds can die. Also, insect abundance decreases during the winter so birds that rely on this as a source of food may also struggle.

Without getting into too much detail, when Miles Storm was first born, it took a huge toll on my husband and my relationship. While family and friends were worried about me developing postnatal depression, it was actually my husband who took our Son’s arrival the hardest. As a result, during the majority of the first year I spent a lot of time upstate NY in Rhinebeck (at our weekend house) with our 2 dogs and our newborn Son. My husband works in New York City, so we would see him on the weekends. It was rough for me for sure, although I hate admitting that. I saw a therapist on a weekly basis and tried my best to navigate through all the changes.

Today, the 28th of December we left our Country House upstate in NY in Rhinebeck in the middle of a snowstorm, where around 8 inches of snow had fallen. Being the first major downpour for this season, Miles Storm loved being in the cold. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of the cold, and I default that back to my Australian roots. Most Australians do not experience the snow often, and we are more-so brought up spending a lot of time outdoors in the sun and on the beach. However, my husband, is a native New Yorker and was more than happy to show Miles Storm the ropes and help him build his first snowman. Grateful for that!

Did you know that the North American native Pumpkin is the largest fruit in the world, and close to 1.5 billion pounds are produced in the United States each year! That is a whole lot of Pumpkin.

The fabulous fat orange Pumpkin is low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium (Love That). As well, as being an ample source of Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium and Phosphorus. By eating pumpkins you also take in Vitamin A & C, Potassium, Copper and Manganese (among other benefits) This may sound like Chinese to some, if so, just be assured that eating pumpkins are good for you.